Moroccan bread is kind of amazing. In a country with wide regional diversity in many things, the bread remains consistent throughout the country. It’s a basically flat, white, small loaf coated with bran. Crucially, it goes perfectly with Moroccan foods, including and especially tagines.

I’ve asked several Moroccans what the bread is called — what style of bread is it? — and after a moment of confusion, they reply that it’s just “bread.”

You can buy this stuff everywhere in the country. And it’s cheap. Amira and I just bought two breads and a big slab of butter and it all cost about a dollar.

The quality ranges from “not that great” to “pretty damned good” and never higher or lower. But this bread is perfect for scooping up tagines without need for utensils. Amira and I had a fantastic chicken tagine today with really great bread at some dive that probably sells them for $3 each, but we were charged $10 because we were foreigners.

Fridays here are a kind of anti-bread day. The devout spend more time at the mosque, and Fridays are an especially religious day. There’s too much religion for bread baking, so bread is harder to find on Fridays. As a result, many people have couscous every Friday, a starchy dish that you don’t eat with bread.